prepping

Easy Home Canned Peaches – Canning What You Grow

Posted on July 27, 2014 Updated on August 17, 2014

This entry was posted in Canning What You Grow and tagged ball blue book, ball canning, ball jar, canned peaches, canning peaches, canning what you grow, food preservation, food storage, Holly Baird, home canned, home canner, mason jar, non gmo sugar, organic, organic sugar, peaches, pear juice, preparing, prepping, simple syrup, sustainable, water, water bath, water bath canner, water bath canning, Wisconsin.

Blueberry Maple Jam – Canning What You Grow

Posted on July 20, 2014 Updated on September 1, 2014

The pectin calculator can be found here

Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

1 cup maple syrup

5 tablespoons Ball^® RealFruit™ Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin

1 ½ cups of brown sugar

3 tablespoons bottled lemon juice

Yields 6 half-pint jars

Method:

Prepare hot water bath, jars, rings and lids.

Combine blueberries with maple syrup and lemon juice in a non-reactive pot. Mash gently. Gradually stir in Ball^® RealFruit™ Pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.

Add brown sugar. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

Test and check set.

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, one at a time, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars. Apply bands and adjust to fingertip tight.

Place filled jars in canner, ensuring jars are covered by 1 to 2 inches of water. Place lid on canner. Bring water to gentle, steady boil.

Process jars for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitute. Turn off heat, remove lid and let jars stand for 5 minutes.

Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours.

This entry was posted in Aunt Holly's Homemade Happiness, Canning What You Grow, Recipes and tagged ball jar, blueberries, blueberry, canning, easy, firm, food preservation, headspace, homemade, hot water bath, jam, jar, lid, maple, maple syrup, mason, non-gmo, organic, prepping, process, seal, set, sugar, Wisconsin.

FridgeSmart Tupperware Review

Posted on July 18, 2014 Updated on August 17, 2014

We recently had Amanda, a Tupperware consultant, contact us to see if we wanted to test out the FridgeSmart Tupperware. This is a style of Tupperware made specifically for fruit and vegetable storage. It is designed to have your fruits and vegetables last longer with a special venting system to prevent spoilage. Fruits and vegetables still need to “breath” after harvest. This allows that to happen. There is even a handy chart on the side to tell you how to set the vent for each specific fruit or vegetable.

The Test

We decided to test strawberries, as we had just gone strawberry picking. We put about half a dozen in the FridgeSmart container, and the same amount in a generic store bought reusable container. We placed them in the fridge and checked on them every day. After 18 days the strawberries in the FridgeSmart container were still looking good. The ones in the generic container were beginning to mold. We’re actually on day 20 now and still going well with the strawberries in the FridgeSmart containers.

Here is the top view, the FridgeSmart container is on the left, as you can see there is a vent near the top.